Freedom
by saoirse
Summary: Set a week after the first film. The Neb is being repaired and a trip to the Oracle with a new crew member brings some strange news. May contain spoilers for Reloaded later on. I'm really bad at summeries!
1. Default Chapter

Author's Note: Ok this is my 1st matrix fan fiction so please be nice. I'm gonna say that there could be spoilers for Reloaded in other chapters later on but I don't know yet coz I haven't written them yet. :o) this takes place after the first film and may bring things in a totally different direction to Reloaded but I may use pieces from Reloaded.  
  
Disclaimer: God I wish I owned the matrix but I don't so please don't sue me!! :o) it belongs to those fabulous Wachwoski brothers.  
  
Freedom Chapter 1/?  
  
Morpheus and Tank sat in the mess with the members of the Odesa crew. They had just arrived in order to help repair the Neb after the sentinel attack a week before. The shouts from the main deck grew steadily louder until every word was as clear as if they were there themselves. "I'm not a child! I know what I'm doing!" "For Christ's sake neo, you've unplugged for what? A month? I think I know a little bit more then you!" "Oh so I should just bow down to the all knowing Trinity?!" "I'm not saying that but do you think ill let you do whatever you want because you're 'the one'?" "That's not what I'm saying..." "Neo I'm you're superior officer. You do what I say, not what you want."  
  
Back in the mess Morpheus sighed deeply as he heard neo making his way down there. From the looks on some of the younger members of the Odessa crew, they didn't understand how Trinity could talk to 'The One' like that. Some of them had still to accept that Neo was a person and a newbie as well. The door opened and Neo stomped in and sat down next to Morpheus. Morpheus looked at Neo. "We're going in later." "Any particular reason? Am I going to get to try a few things out?" "Not really. One of the new members of the Odessa crew has to be taken to the Oracle. I said we'd go in with her while they work on the ship." Neo just nodded.  
  
Later on Tank, Morpheus, Neo and Trinity were all up on the main deck preparing to go in. Trinity still looked annoyed at the fact that Neo was going in. He noticed and as they were standing near each other he said quietly "I can take care of myself in there, you know." Trinity harsh laugh was very loud in the quiet that surrounded the main deck. "Really? I mean do you remember what happened last time you went in?" "Yes. We got Morpheus out and I beat an agent." "Do you have a selective memory? last time you went in you got your ass kicked more then once, blew up a government lobby, fought an agent and got yourself shot in the stomach ten times." Neo and Morpheus were shocked. Neither of them had ever seen trinity so worked up about something. Neo tried to calm her down a bit. "Trinity..." "You died Neo. You died." trinity's voice cracked when she said died and she ran from the deck wordlessly. Morpheus looked at her retreating back. "That's the first time I've seen her run in the real world," he commented. Neo went after her and found her leaning against one of the cabin doors. Her back was to him. He put his hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. "Do you know what it's like to watch someone you know die and not be able to do a thing about it?" Trinity didn't wait to give Neo a chance to answer. "It's like someone's put their hand inside your chest and turned your heart to ice. Do you know what it's like to watch the person you've fallen for die? To see their body punctured ten times by ten bullets?" trinity turned to face neo and put her finger to the exact spots where the bullets had hit him. "To see them take their last agonizing breath? To see their heart stop..." "Trinity stop this. Stop torturing yourself." "Neo the first time I held you, you were dead. And then you came back and it was amazing but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with the fact that you were dead." "Why didn't you say something before about this?" "I'm not very good at expressing what I feel verbally. You know how long it took me to tell you that I....how I feel about you." "You know it's hard for me to deal with too." Trinity's head shot up and for the first time since they'd started talking she looked him in the eyes. "I didn't know." "Yeah well dying and being brought back to life by a beautiful woman telling you she loves you is a bit hard to get your head around. Not to mention discovering that you're meant to help save humanity!" Neo gave a small laugh which prompted Trinity to laugh. "I'm sorry for being a bitch since..." Neo put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them up and down. "Hey it's ok. You've had a pretty emotional week for someone who doesn't show emotion." he leaned in close to her ear and whispered "you know this is the closest I've been to you since that day. You kinda left really fast after we kissed." Trinity smiled shyly. She didn't want to tell him why she had left, how scared she'd been by what she felt and was feeling now. She tried to think of a good excuse. "Yeah well I..." "I'm scared by it too Trinity." neo interrupted her before she could lie but she pretended not to know what he was talking about. "Scared by what?" "Oh come on. Do you know how easy it is to tell when someone's scared of what they're feeling? They tell you things that they never would otherwise, they avoid the person that they have feelings for and they try to lie to themselves and everyone around them." "You don't miss a thing, do you?" Neo smiled. "I'm not so sure that you're right there. Even the Oracle mentioned it." Trinity looked confused so Neo tried to explain. "She said to me 'you're cuter than I thought, I can see why she likes you.' when I asked who, she said 'not too bright though'. She was talking about you. That much I get now but then...let's just say I've never been the smartest guy around." Trinity opened her mouth to protest at Neo putting himself down, she wanted to tell him that she would never care how smart he was as long as he stayed the same, but before she could say anything Neo silenced her with a kiss. After a short while Trinity pulled away and gently whispered, "I think we should go back to the core. We've still to take that newbie to the Oracle."  
  
A/N Please please please review!!! Good, bad, great, crap just tell me what you thought and whether I should keep going. Thanks :o) 


	2. Surprises

A/N: I don't own them, just borrow them. FYI - just in case anyone wants to know the way you pronounce Saoirse is 'say-r-sha' but you say it really quick.  
  
Neo smiled and took her hand, leading her back the way they had come. As they walked over to Tank's chair together, Cleo, the Odessa's captain, came out from the mess hall with the newbie behind her. Neo saw the looks of shock on his crewmembers when they saw the young girl behind Cleo. He heard Trinity whisper, "It can't be...." Now it was Neo's turn to look confused.  
  
Tank and Morpheus had the same expressions of surprise and disbelief on their faces as Trinity. Morpheus was the first to recover and smiled warmly at the newbie. "Hello Saoirse, it's been a while." Now Neo was more confused than ever, Morpheus knew this girl? 'Saoirse' smiled back shyly and walked forward to shake Morpheus' hand.  
  
"2½ years is a long time isn't it? You haven't changed much though. In appearances that is." Neo had no idea what was going on around him. He bent over to Trinity to ask her.  
  
"We unplugged Saoirse bout 3 years ago. It went badly though because she was young and scared. She only stayed with us a few weeks, then we left her in Zion with Tank's mother. I didn't know she was back on any ship." There was no further time for reflection though as Cleo was talking now.  
  
"I've just been told that another ship has sent a warning. There's a lot of sentinel activity at the moment. We're going to wait to go in." Morpheus just nodded. "Trinity, Tank, can I talk to you for a minute? Neo will you get Saoirse something to eat? I'm sure she's hungry." Neo smiled at Saoirse and led her down to the mess hall.  
  
Neither spoke for a while as Saoirse ate. Finally the silence was broken by Neo. He couldn't wait to ask her questions about her unplugging and why she'd been left in Zion. "So...why did you leave the Neb?"  
  
"You want to know why they unplugged me if they thought I couldn't handle it? The weird thing with me when they unplugged me was that I could handle the real world, here, but the matrix...well that was another story. I was scared to go back in. Didn't help that the first time I did go in we were attacked by agents."  
  
"Me too."  
  
Saoirse laughed at that, "Yeah I suppose we have that in common! But at least you were on your way back from the oracle. I never even got there. That's why they're sending you and Trin with me. Make sure I actually get to talk to her this time!"  
  
"You know Trinity pretty well don't you?"  
  
"She was like a big sister to me. She helped me deal with things and convinced Morpheus and Tank that I should stay in Zion when they wouldn't listen to me. You love her a lot don't you?"  
  
Trinity was standing at the slightly open door to the mess hall and heard Saoirse's question. She was meant to be telling them that they were going in now but she wanted to hear where this conversation would go. Neo reddened slightly at Saoirse's blunt question. "She's everything to me. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good?"  
  
"Yeah, good answer. If the answer had been any different I would have to kill you!"  
  
Neo's eyes shot up. Saoirse's tone had been light and joking but there was a look in her eyes that told Neo that she might just carry out that threat. He decided that a swift change in conversation was needed. "So um...Saoirse's a pretty strange name."  
  
The threatening look disappeared from Saoirse's eyes immediately and she began to explain. "It's Irish. It means freedom. When I started to get into computers it was freeing so I choose that name. When I was freed it seemed right to keep it."  
  
Outside, Trinity's amusement at Saoirse's protective instinct faded some. She's grown up a lot. But there wasn't any time to think about that. Pushing the door Trinity announced, "We're going in."  
  
A/N: let me know what you think. And Nadia, thanks for the review. Please r&r 


	3. Help!

A/N: Could anyone help me? What's the name of the Spoon-boy in the first film and does anyone know the name of the woman who answers the door to Neo and Morpheus at the Oracle's? 


	4. The Oracle

Disclaimer: Don't own them never said I did. However Saoirse is mine, all mine!  
  
A/N: thanks to those who reviewed! :o) Your comments really helped. Just as a little piece of info: Delphi is the woman who answered the door to Neo in the first film (I decided on that name because of the Delphic Oracle, thought it made sense). Spoy is the Spoon-boy (literally took the first 2 letters of Spoon and the last 2 of Boy to create his name).  
  
Within a few minutes Morpheus, Trinity, Neo and Saoirse were all in the matrix. Trinity looked around her and saw that they were in a run down apartment block. Morpheus motioned them out the door to the car that was sitting outside waiting for them.  
  
Neo left the room last noticing the similarities between Trinity and Saoirse. It was obvious that Trinity had trained her. They moved alike, as though they were waiting for an attack. However the two could not have looked more different. Saoirse was a lot shorter than Trinity and kept her hair long both in the matrix and the real world. The hair colour was even a contrast, Trinity's black with Saoirse's auburn.  
  
They got in the car with Morpheus driving and Neo sitting in the front. The ride to the oracle's was silent. When they pulled up, Neo expected Morpheus to tell Trinity and him to wait for them out here. Instead Morpheus told them that they would be going with Saoirse and he would wait outside. "The oracle has asked to talk to you both. We thought doing things this way would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."  
  
The way up to the oracle's apartment was uncomfortably silent. Trinity could only think of the last time she had seen the oracle. I was such a bitch to her when she told me. Trinity felt slightly guilty of the way she had reacted to the woman's news. After all, she thought stealing a glance at Neo; it didn't turn out to be too bad!  
  
They were barely at the door when Delphi opened it and beckoned them inside. "The oracle wants to see Saoirse first, and then she wants to talk to Trinity." Delphi gently maneuvered Saoirse past Neo and Trinity and towards the kitchen, looking back over her shoulder she called "There might be a few familiar faces here Neo for you to talk to."  
  
Wondering what she meant Neo looked around the room only to see Spoy sitting on the ground. The young boy gave Neo a huge smile when he saw him and Neo couldn't help smiling back. He sat down on the ground and began to talk to the boy.  
  
Trinity lost herself in time listening to these two talking. Neo seemed more like the man she knew from the real world than the matrix as he talked here. Something about this boy made him relaxed in this dangerous world. So you're going to save humanity!" Neo gave a small laugh. Trinity was so caught up her thoughts that she jumped with surprise when Delphi put her hand on her shoulder. "It's your turn Trinity."  
  
Trinity noticed that Saoirse was now sitting with a couple of girls her own age in front of a TV screen. She moved into the kitchen and was met with the smiling face of the oracle. Her mind flashed back to the day all those years ago that she had first seen this woman. Stop thinking about the past. You need to live for the future, she told herself. She sat down in the chair that the oracle had indicated to.  
  
"So, Trinity. There's no point in asking how your week has been. I'm guessing that you believe me a little more now then you did when you first came."  
  
Trinity just nodded.  
  
"That's good. You're probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you alone for a minute." The oracle paused to light a cigarette and enjoy it for a minute. "I just wanted to see how you were getting on with everything. Remember he may have a lot to deal with but you've got just as much."  
  
"I just don't know what I can do to help."  
  
The oracle reached across the table and put her hand on Trinity's.  
  
"Honey you've done more then anyone should be asked to do within the past week to help. All you have to do now is believe. And love him, but I don't think we need to worry about that." The oracle's eyes suddenly shifted up past Trinity to look at the doorway. "Ah Neo you've joined us."  
  
Trinity moved on the chair to look around at him. He had a guarded expression on his face. The oracle noticed this immediately. "Don't worry Neo. I haven't got bad news for you this time. In fact there's good. Please sit. It's about Saoirse. It seems that you've got a seer on your side."  
  
"What do you mean a seer?" Neo asked.  
  
"She can see the future." Trinity said, speaking the thought as it came into her head.  
  
"Bingo. But not only that. You may have noticed how she has always been able to 'read people'. Tell what they're like. This little talent has grown since she's seen you last. So much in fact that it means she can tell things about a person's past, present and future."  
  
"Why are you telling us? Shouldn't that be up to her?" Neo still had a bit of trouble accepting the situation.  
  
"She asked me to tell you. But before you ask, I'm not telling you everything I told her. Just what's necessary for you to know at the moment. Anything else, she'll have to tell you herself. Now I think it's time for you to go." She stood, Neo left the kitchen and Trinity was about to follow when she felt a hand on her elbow. The oracle was looking at her with kind eyes. "Just remember kiddo, when he gets jealous it's just because that boy's crazy about you. Reassure him. And enjoy your time in Zion." *********************************************************** A/N: Please review, tell me what you think. I'll accept any comments at all. 


	5. 5

okay I'm not abandoning this story but it seems I'm suffering from a strange form of writers block. I have an entire section of the story that I don't know what I want it to be. I have an ending in the works that's going great. If anyone would like to help me with this I'd really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. Hopefully I'll be able to post something new for this story soon. 


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